Being an effective DI facilitator

 team support  Comments Off
Nov 132012
 

Because  there is much to learn at the same time that your team is learning about its Challenge, the first season you manage a Destination Imagination team can feel daunting.  Even if you have managed a team for several seasons, there is always room to refine the way you manage a team. Make no mistake—Destination Imagination is a learning process for everyone, not just the students, from start to finish. A little bit of training and organization benefits everyone. Here are a few tips to get you on the right path.

Take advantage of facilitator training opportunities

Are you aware that there are multiple ways for you to acquire facilitator training, and that you can take advantage of them before you send in your Iowa membership registration. Training, which provides the same information to everyone, helps level the playing field for all teams. A facilitator benefits personally from training by becoming knowledgeable about common DI terminology, becoming familiar with DI program philosophy, learning new ways to manage a team more efficiently, and discovering how to use CPS (creative problem solving) strategies to lead your team in effective discussions that will minimize team conflicts and keep your team moving forward.

1. Basic Training Podcast for Team Managers & Coordinators. Learn the basics of managing a team by visiting our podcast page. The basics of managing a team are recorded in sections so that you can fit them into your schedule at your convenience. Note that there is a segment for returning facilitators called “What’s New This Season” under Getting Started.

2. DI University. An overview of DI terminology, philosophy and the components of the program is available at DI University, where you will find slide show presentations that allows you to quiz yourself afterward. Different modules are available; do them all whenever you wish: Being a DI Team Manager, Rules of the Road, Being a DI Appraiser, and Challenge Master. All of these training modules provide you with information from different points of view. Consider having your team go through Rules of the Road, too.

3. Advanced Team Manager & Coordinator Training Workshop. This training is not just for experienced facilitators, but also for new ones. You will benefit more from it, however, if you listen to the Basic Training Podcast before you come. The training is being held Saturday, December 1st, at the Iowa Energy Center in Ames from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This year’s topics include:

  • Helping Your Team Understand How to Make Materials Work
  • Drawing the Line Between Helping Your Team and Interfering
  • Developing Skill Sets for Your Team Challenge
  • Q & A with the Challenge Masters

To make sure we have materials available for you, please REGISTER by November 26th for this workshop. There is no extra fee for this training, since it is included in your Iowa membership registration. It is okay for you to come, even if you have not yet paid your Iowa membership registration fee.

Make sure everyone is on the same page

Start off by gathering the “tools” you will need to manage your team. Both you and your team members should have a 3-ring notebook that contains sections for contact information, your team meeting calendar, Rules of the Road, the Team Challenge and Published Clarifications, and team discussions. Draw up an agenda for every meeting, and make sure you distribute hole-punched copies to team members that they can add to their binders. Have your team generate a to-do list and update it regularly to keep track of  tasks, deadlines,  and who is responsible for what. Team members can insert research notes, charts and diagrams into the “team discussions” section of their binders. A 3-ring notebook, essentially, helps everyone to be on the same page.

Create a framework for team meetings

Prepare for team meetings ahead of time. Yes, you will have to adjust your agenda to meet your team’s needs, but there are certain parts of your meeting that can be in place long before you actually meet. A suggested framework is as follows:

1. Do an ice breaker, warm-up, or team building activity. Refer to our earlier post, Focus on teamwork: part 1, for ideas about where to locate these activities. You will find additional ideas at the New Hampshire DI Web site:

2. Develop the Challenge.  

At the beginning of the season, challenge development means reading and re-reading the Challenge. Encourage team members to divide the Challenge into sections, and explain it to each other. This helps students to take ownership of their eventual solution. Check the team’s understanding by asking questions; turn this into a game with an old Chutes & Ladders or Parchisi-style game board; write questions on an index card.

Use the areas of academic focus found at the top of page 1 of every Team Challenge to help the team develop a KWL chart that you can use to schedule educational opportunities such as speakers, demonstrations, workshops and field trips. K represents what the team already KNOWS, W represents WHAT the team needs or wants to learn, and L stands for what the team has LEARNED by the end of the season and serves as a great assessment tool after the final tournament, when it is time for the team to celebrate its success. Learning is a big part of that success! Remember to avoid Interference when you arrange for educational opportunities.

As the season evolves, your team will need to schedule time to get the actual work of the Challenge completed. This means researching, writing a script, creating props, building a theatrical set, making or locating costumes and developing devices. Make sure you have chart paper handy. Have your team fill in columns of an SML chart to keep track of individuals’ responsibilities and timetables. S stands for a SHORT period of time (24 hours), M represents a MEDIUM length of time (one week), and L stands for a LONG period of time (one month). Make sure you have a column that shows who is responsible for what task, and remind students to check and update the SML chart at each meeting. Having the team take responsibility for this chart keeps students accountable to each other.

3. Practice Instant Challenge. Make sure you practice different types of Instant Challenges (performance-based, task-based and combination) at every team meeting. It is even more important to debrief the team afterward. You’ll find sample debriefing questions in the Instant Challenge Practice Set found in the Resource Area, as well in Iowa’s theme-based Instant Challenge collection, A Roll of Plenty. Take advantage of the many resources in our Instant Challenge Library, which includes links to other online Instant Challenges.

4.Take time out for a snack.  Some Team Managers meet with students after a long school day and have discovered that before their team can focus on DI business, they need a snack. Other Team Managers use a snack in the middle of the meeting as an organizational break; while the team is enjoying a treat, the adult(s) are preparing for the next activity. And sometimes a snack simply breaks up tension. Do what works for you!

5. Plan for your next meeting. Take 5 minutes at the end of a team meeting to review what was accomplished today and what needs to be accomplished at the next meeting. Do team members need to perform independent research? Finish a project or two at home? Bring some specific power tools or working materials to the next meeting? Use pre-planning as a way to close your current meeting, and launch your next one.

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Understanding the role of an Appraiser

 appraisers, instant challenge, team support, tournament  Comments Off
Oct 272012
 

If you’re a Destination Imagination veteran, you have heard us say many times that we can’t hold a tournament without the help of our volunteer Appraisers. This is really true! Every team doing Challenges A-E and projectOUTREACH® is required to provide an adult Appraiser (age 18 or older) who spends one Saturday in January or February getting trained, one full day at the Sub-state tournament, and one full day at the State tournament. Every Rising Stars!® team is required to provide one adult volunteer who serves up to a half day in a non-scoring role at the Sub-state tournament, and does not need to have advance training.

Although Team Managers often ask a team member’s parent to step in as an Appraiser, there are many other ways to find one. Read How to Find Appraisers for suggestions. You may wish to share Top Reasons to Be an Appraiser with anyone you ask to serve in this capacity. We also welcome adults who are NOT representing a team to become an Appraiser. If you would like to become a Friend of cre8iowa by serving as a non-team affiliated Appraiser, please contact Keith Kutz at only_kman@yahoo.com.

The main role of an Appraiser is to keep an open mind in order to discover areas in which to “praise” teams by awarding them points. That’s why ApPRAISErs are called Appraisers. Appraisers set the tone of the tournament to a great extent. If they are happy to be there, then that is evident to the teams and their spirit is infectious. The scores you award teams at tournament provide them with critical feedback they need to evaluate themselves, to improve their solution at the next level of competition, and to set goals for their next Destination Imagination season.

It is definitely fun to watch teams’ creative performances and to award them well-deserved points. Many of our Board members, in fact, began their volunteer experience with Destination Imagination as Appraisers; most of them serve as tournament officials today (in addition to wearing other hats). At Destination Imagination Global Finals, it is considered to be a privilege to be selected as an Appraiser. You can see how some Appraisers celebrate the fun by participating in a Team Manager & Officials Challenge at Global Finals.

When you check in at Appraiser training, you will sign up to appraise a Challenge that is different from the one the team you represent is doing. Challenges focus on technical, scientific, fine arts, improvisational, structural or service learning areas, or—in the case of Instant Challenge—on on-the-spot problem solving. You can find a preview of the Challenges HERE, and can see what practice Instant Challenges look like by visiting our Instant Challenge Library. You’ll get an overview of the Destination Imagination program, become acquainted with the difference between objective, subjective and zero scores, learn all about the Challenge you will be appraising, and experience how to work together as a member of an Appraisal team.

Speaking of Instant Challenge, this week’s newly-released Instant Challenges include:

By becoming familiar with the same rules that teams follow, you’ll help us to create a fair and consistent playing field for every team at tournament. You’ll take what you learn at Appraiser training to the Sub-state tournament, refine your skills and learn some new lessons, and apply them at the State tournament, where the first place team in every Challenge and Level earns the right to advance to Global Finals. In a sense, you are doing the same thing that teams are doing, i.e., both of you are improving your performance from one tournament to the next. You’ll have a chance to evaluate teams for creativity, teamwork and problem-solving, and will nominate some teams and some individuals for exceptional creativity, expertise, DI spirit, community service and other areas.

Several points to keep in mind about being a DI Appraiser are that you are making a commitment to the team you represent by serving as an official.  The team is not allowed to advance to the next level of competition without your completion of training and your service at both tournaments. You will spend the entire tournament day at the site of the Challenge you are appraising, and will not be able to leave the site until the last team has performed and your Head Appraiser or Challenge Master excuse you. Your free lunch on both tournament days is provided by Students for a Creative Iowa. Teams who have a single Team Manager must be accompanied by that Team Manager at tournament, who may not also serve as an Appraiser. Appraisers can choose on what day to attend training, as follows. Check-in begins at 9:00 a.m., and training runs from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

  • Jan. 26, 2013 – Kirkwood Community College (Iowa City)
    • 1816 Lower Muscatine Rd.,  Iowa City, IA 52240
    • Check-In: Room ICCR 255
  • Feb. 2, 2013 – Kuemper Catholic High School (Carroll)
    • 116 S. East St Carroll, IA 51401
    • Check-In: Cafeteria/Hallway
  • Feb. 9, 2013 – Ames Middle  School (Ames)
    • 3915 Mortensen Road, Ames, IA 50014
    • Check-In: Commons

If you have never served as an Appraiser (or even if you have), and would like to have a better sense of what to expect as an Appraiser, you will benefit from visiting DI University. This is a free online training that gives you an overview of the program and explains some of the roles that Appraisers fill. It is not a substitute for learning about the Team Challenge you will appraise at tournament, since that information is provided at your official Appraiser Training, but it definitely helps to paint a picture for you. The two modules that will benefit you most include “Being a DI Appraiser” and “Rules of the Road.”

As we get closer to tournament, you will find updated Appraiser information, on the Appraiser Information page on our Web site. For now, you’ll want to add these 2 tournament dates to your calendar:

  • March 9, 2013 (Saturday). Sub-State Tournament. Ames Middle School, Ames.
  • April 6, 2013 (Saturday). State Tournament. Ames Middle School, Ames.
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 Posted by at 6:58 pm

Walking the line between facilitation and Interference

 instant challenge, team support  Comments Off
Oct 192012
 

It is the natural tendency of adult facilitators to want to be helpful to students solving a Destination Imagination® (DI) Team Challenge. In DI, however, the rules of Interference provide clear instructions about where the lines of Interference are drawn.

A Destination Imagination team is charged with interpreting its own Challenge, generating its own ideas, selecting its own resources, doing its own research, and constructing its own solution. When non-team members get involved in these activities, Interference rules have been breached, directly affecting a team’s success.

The success of a team is determined not only by its standing at tournament, but also by the knowledge and experience our students gain from the process. Competition is only one aspect of the Destination Imagination program. Most of the season, in fact, is spent learning about the process of creativity from imagination to innovation, and gaining life-long learning lessons in analysis and problem-solving, teamwork, performance, technical skills, time management, budgeting, organization, priority-setting, and more. When non-team members contribute to the solution of Team Challenges or Instant Challenge, this takes away from the team’s ability to learn these lessons and skills.

The importance and seriousness of Interference are highlighted by the fact that DI requires every team member and Team Manager to sign a Declaration of Independence at tournament. By signing this Declaration, the team members and Team Managers promise that the presented solution and all its ideas and research were produced by ONLY the team members, that they understand the rules of Interference, and that they do not know anything in advance about the Instant Challenge performed at competition.

Interference is one of the most serious obstacles for teams. If a tournament official observes Interference, then the tournament official gives a warning (if it is a minor matter of Interference), or a deduction to the team. In Instant Challenge, a team may be disqualified from competition because of Interference. Tournament officials are required to act in order to maintain a level playing field for all teams. We strive to promote a fun and fair competition; part of that involves giving warranted deductions, if Interference gives an unfair advantage to a team.

What can Team Managers, Coordinators, parents, teachers and audience members do to avoid Interference?

1. Early in the season, review the rules of Interference with team members and parents. Have everyone read and sign the Interference Contract found on page 28 of Roadmap.

2. Discuss the Interference Triangle, found on page 14 of Rules of the Road. The Solution makes up the top of the Interference Triangle, and represents the area where the Team Manager(s) CANNOT help the team. The bottom of the triangle, Skills and Challenge & Rules, represents the areas where a Team Manager CAN assist the team. For detailed information about Interference, refer to pages 14-16 of Rules of the Road. (Note: Veterans of the program would benefit from reading the rules about Interference.)

  • Skills are both those the team already has, and the new ones it acquires during the course of the DI season. It is the responsibility of a Team Manager to help a team acquire new skills. How? A Team Manager can arrange for a speaker or demonstrator to teach a broad range of general skills to the team. However, please note that these skills may not suggest a specific solution to the Challenge; it is up to the team to apply the skills they learn to their Challenge. In general, if a team does not know the skills to accomplish a task, then students either must learn those skills, or find a different way to solve the Challenge.
  • Challenge & Rules include the printed Challenge, Rules of the Road, and Published Clarifications. Published Clarifications supersede all other rules, and can be found HERE. Follow Destination Imagination on Facebook and Twitter and you will be alerted when a new Published Clarification is posted. It is the job of team members, the Team Manager(s) and tournament officials to know and understand these rules. If a team does not understand the rules, it can write for a Team Clarification. Each team is allowed to ask up to 10 Clarification questions by visiting http://www.diatlas.org/clarifications/login.php. The deadline for submitting Team Clarification questions is February 15, 2013. A Clarification will not be shared with any other team. Keep in mind that it is not the answers in Team Clarifications that are a secret. The answers come directly from the Challenge or the Rules of the Road. It is the team’s questions that are completely confidential and will not be shared with any other team. This is because the question often reflects the thinking and direction of the team’s solution.

Before your team submits a Clarification question, remind students to re-read the Challenge carefully, paying special attention to grayed text that provides special definitions or explains special rules. Encourage your team to use a standard dictionary if they don’t understand terms, and to discuss their understanding. Remember that it is NOT the Team Manager’s job to interpret the rules! A Team Manager may point out where the team is violating a rule by asking the team to re-read that section of the Team Challenge, but it is up to the team to come up with a solution.

3. Encourage your team to develop independence. One excellent way to do this is through Instant Challenge practice, where team members learn to rely on each other. Each week through November, you’ll find new Instant Challenges in cre8iowa’s Instant Challenge Library. This week’s Instant Challenges are:

If you have questions about Interference, feel free to contact Judy Nolan, Co-Affiliate Training Director, by email at: judynolan@aol.com.

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Training opportunities for facilitators

 team support, workshops  Comments Off
Oct 122012
 

Destination Imagination season is now well underway. If you’ve purchased your Team Pack(s) and are ready to dive into training, you’ll want to take advantage of the following opportunities:

The Basic Training Podcast for Team Managers & Coordinators is divided into 7 sections that you can listen to as your time allows. Whether you’re a new or returning facilitator, you’ll find useful information in these audio recordings. Returning Team Managers and Coordinators will wish to pay special attention to Getting Started, which contains a “What’s New This Season” segment.

An Advanced Team Manager & Coordinator Training Workshop is being held on Saturday, December 1 in Ames at the Iowa Energy Center. Training runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (although we may finish earlier). Even if you are a new Destination Imagination participant, you’ll benefit from this training which includes the following topics:

  • Helping Your Team Understand How to Make Materials Work
  • Drawing the Line Between Helping Your Team and Interfering
  • Developing Skill Sets for Your Team Challenge
  • Q & A with the Challenge Masters

Although this workshop is already included in your Iowa Membership Registration fee, we ask you to register HERE by Monday, Nov. 26th so that we can plan appropriately and have enough working materials on hand. Please note that it is NOT necessary for you to pay your Iowa Membership Registration fee in order to be able to attend this workshop. Coffee, water and snacks will be provided; just bring a sack lunch and yourself!

Finally, as you meet with your teams, take advantage of Instant Challenge training opportunities by visiting our Instant Challenge Library. This week’s newly-released Instant Challenges include:

Questions? Contact Judy Nolan at judynolan@aol.com.

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Iowa Membership Registration is now open

 contests, season kickoff, tournament  Comments Off
Oct 102012
 

The Iowa Membership Registration Form for the 2012-13 season has now been posted.

This year’s registration is different than in years past as Students for a Creative Iowa is requiring ALL registrations to be submitted via email to cre8iowa@gmail.com. Cre8iowa is making this change in an effort to be more environmentally friendly and to be more to be more effective for our members. We believe this new method will more efficient, because it allows us to more quickly process registration forms, making it easier for us to provide you with accurate information sooner, it allows us to save our members on postage costs, and it allows us to provide better support as everything can be looked up electronically. This year, members will use a fillable Word document to enter all appropriate information. We have also tried to simplify the form this year by including all the terms and conditions on the last two pages versus spread throughout the document.

Also, don’t be alarmed if you have never filled out a form such as this one. We have created a How To Guide to walk you through the process. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at cre8iowa@gmail.com or by calling Judy Nolan at 515-864-1863.

Please go to http://www.cre8iowa.org/current-season/iowa-membership-registration/ and review all the information found on this page. It is on this page that you can download both the Iowa Membership Registration Form and the How To Guide.

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Focus on teamwork: part 2

 team support  Comments Off
Oct 052012
 

1 The Forming Stage

Last week I discussed the fact that at the beginning of the Destination Imagination season, teams are in what educational psychologist Bruce Tuckman calls the Forming Stage, when it’s time for students to get to know each other, not to make a major decision about what Team Challenge they are going to solve. The team, in other words, has to be more important than the Challenge itself before any effective progress can be made with the Challenge.

Some ways for teams to get to know each other, besides the ones described in last week’s post, include the following discussion activities that sell for under $20 at Amazon.com (and likely other places, such as your local educational materials store):

  • Conversations to Go, by Moonjar, is a fun discussion-based activity that is available for around $14.95. Question cards are inside a box that you shake up and open. Pick a question, read it aloud, and surprise each other with your answers. Sample questions include: What do you like to do most on the Internet? If you could have a conversation with any animal, which one would it be and why?  If you could shout something out loud what would you say?

  • TableTalk Conversation Cards, by US Games, is another discussion-based activity that sells for about $6. Each card in the deck presents an interesting fact and asks a question to get a conversation started. There are no right or wrong answers, and no special knowledge is needed. A sample card reads as follows: With the possible exception of the spiny anteater, all mammals sleep. The average human infant sleeps 16 to 18 hours per day. The average adult sleeps seven to eight hours a day, or about one-third of every day. How would your life be different if you didn’t have to sleep?

  • Would You Rather…, by Zobmondo!,  is a question-based game whose objective is to stimulate entertaining, ridiculous, and thought-provoking conversation with questions that act as icebreakers.  The game sells in many variations that range from about $9-$18. Sample questions include: Would you rather sing every word you speak –OR- always speak in rhymes? Would you rather live in a home without electricity –OR- in a home without running water? Would you rather run across a hungry alligator’s back –OR- run underneath an angry elephant?

2 The Storming Stage

It doesn’t take long before a team moves into the Storming Stage, when it becomes critical for members to learn to trust and respect one another. As they do this, it will be normal for you to see disagreements erupt. And that’s okay, as long as trust and respect are still there.  You’ll find that activities such as Helium Stick  and All Aboard will help promote teamwork. You can find many other team building activities at Wilderdom Games, Great Group Games, and Great Solutions to Team Challenges.

The Storming Stage is a good time for you to remind your team that there is no “I” in TEAM, that the team is stronger than the individual. But at the same time, it is important to reassure individuals that they are valued. I used to remind my team that there are really no bad ideas, only good ideas and better ones—and it is the team’s responsibility to develop good ideas into the most unique ones they possibly can. We tried very hard not to ignore stray ideas; in fact, every team member had a stack of Post-it Notes® handy so that if an idea occurred that wasn’t directly resulted to the current discussion, the team member could write down that idea and paste it to chart paper without interrupting the flow of the team conversation. This way, every idea was acknowledged and treated as a “jewel” to be examined later.

When teams are having trouble getting past disagreements during this stage, it is helpful for them to share an experience that helps them grow in their confidence to deal with a challenge as a group. If you refer to page73 in Road Map, you’ll see something called a K-W-L Chart. To use this chart, encourage your team to list skills they already (K)now and skills they want to (L)earn as a group. Then, zero in on a shared learning goal, such as an art technique, sewing, making a closed electrical circuit, using a power tool—or whatever interests your team; the number of learning opportunities is endless. If you bring in a speaker or demonstrator who can help your team learn a new skill, your team will feel empowered with its newly-acquired knowledge. Who knows how they will apply it? That’s up to the team.  I have seen more than one team develop an awesome Team Choice Element, however, simply because of a learning experience shared during the Storming Stage. At the end of the season, return to the K-W-L Chart and include the skill the team has learned in the (L)earn column as one of its positive outcomes, and make sure to celebrate it as an accomplishment when evaluating the team’s progress.

3 The Norming Stage

Although the focus is on producing results during the Norming Stage, it is still normal for a team to encounter personal conflicts as the season progresses. To the extent that a team deals with these conflicts constructively, that determines how much the group will grow.

As a Team Manager, you can help your team focus on what it needs to do during this stage by reminding team members of the objectives they set at the beginning of the season, as well as the timeline that the team (not you!) has set.  Encourage your team to modify its short-term goals (within 24 hours), medium-term goals (within a week) and long-term goals (within the month) as needs change, and to assign responsibilities to specific individuals. This keeps team members accountable to each other, and keeps the team moving forward.

If your team gets stuck, remember that you can use CPS (Creative Problem Solving) strategies to help your team get past an obstacle. In Roadmap, refer to ABC Brainstorming on page 59, and Mix and Match (also known as Morphological Matrix) on page 66 to help your team brainstorm more effectively. Use Decision-Making Matrix on page 38, Choice Helper (also known as Evaluation Matrix) on page 87, and Paired Choice Analysis on page 104 to help team members arrive at decisions efficiently. You can learn more about CPS strategies from this document in cre8iowa’s Document Library: Using CPS Tools to Teach Your Team Creative & Critical Thinking Strategies.

Remember that team building is a process that continues throughout the season. The ice breakers and games you play during the Forming and Storming Stages of the program continue to be useful as the season progresses. A fun problem-solving game that also promotes teamwork, discussion, creativity and reflection, and was developed by DI, is Schema, in which your team divides itself into a Challenge Team and a Building Team. You’ll find this game at ShopDI.org for $9.

The basics of Schema are as follows:

  1. The Challenging Team chooses a set of tasks from its cards and gives those tasks to the Building Team. The Building Team chooses items from its cards to build a device that completes all the tasks. The Building Team will have a set time to build the device from the items chosen.
  2.  If the Building Team’s device completes all the tasks, all the cards in play are removed from the game. If the Building Team’s device doesn’t complete all the tasks, the Challenging Team gets all the cards in play.
  3.  The teams then switch roles and repeat the process.
  4.  The first team to run out of cards loses.

As always, continue to practice Instant Challenge, which develops good teamwork and keeps the energy flowing. This week’s newly-released Instant Challenges can be found in cre8iowa’s Instant Challenge Library:

 4 The Performing Stage

As your team approaches tournament, it is normal for tempers to flare and for frustrations to build. You can help your team deal with this by encouraging open and honest (and respectful) communication. On page 100 of Roadmap, Team Managers are reminded that they serve the role of a facilitator. In concrete terms, this means helping your team walk through conflict resolution through discussion. Encourage team members to (1) identify the issues, (2) clarify people’s positions, and (3) pinpoint the underlying concerns, needs or desires of individuals. This helps everyone on the team to be on the same page, and to find a way to meet in the middle.

Sometimes a team will get lost in the proverbial forest without seeing the trees. Remind your team to re-read the Challenge, and point to the scoring rubric found in every Team Challenge to help them set appropriately their priorities for time, energy and effort. Every Team Challenge has a couple of pie charts in its Reward Points section that serves as a visual reminder of priorities.

5 The Adjourning Stage

The final stage of the DI season should be a celebration of all that the team has accomplished, whether it finishes its Team Challenge solution and showcases it at tournament or not. Tournament results represent only a small fraction of a team’s accomplishments. Stress the positive outcomes of the season, rather than trophies or special awards. Make sure you take the time to ask each team member, in a group setting, to describe an experience he or she particularly enjoyed, or an aspect of the program that was especially valued. You’ll hear responses such as, “ I really enjoyed working with my friends,” “I learned how important teamwork is,” and “DI was so fun this year; when will we start next season?”

Whether you hold a potluck dinner, pass out awards for individual or group accomplishments, go to a theme park to celebrate, or have a party, it is important to acknowledge everyone’s contributions, to list the objectives the team has accomplished, and to end on a positive note that reminds teams of the fun times they’ve shared. This sets the stage for the next season, whether that season involves DI or another team-based activity, or to the next stage in life if your team members are graduating.

Teamwork is the glue that forms a team and keeps it together. It is also one of the skills DI participants remember most years after Destination Imagination is behind them. Three years ago, 2009 Students for a Creative Iowa Scholarship winner Marissa Paulsen wrote in her application, “DI stresses the importance of teamwork, but I don’t think everyone realizes just how important it is for every aspect of Destination Imagination. Our DI team has many talented individuals, but I truly believe we could not have accomplished what we have without teamwork.”

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Focus on teamwork: part 1

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Sep 272012
 

Many Team Managers teach students that the acronym TEAM stands for “Together Everyone Achieves More.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? The reality is that good teamwork, or effective collaboration, takes a lot of effort. Good teamwork does not develop overnight, and there are no shortcuts.

Destination Imagination is an educational program that is based on the concept that the creative process can be taught, from imagination to innovation, through team-based Challenges. Everywhere you look in the program, from the international headquarters housed in Cherry Hill, New Jersey to teams scattered around Iowa, you’ll see teams. A team of adult volunteers writes the Challenges, teams of students solve them, teams of Appraisers evaluate the students’ solutions, and a team of adult volunteers runs Students for a Creative Iowa, the non-profit organization that administrates DI in Iowa. All of these teams share in common a passion for learning about the creativity process, but they also share some growing pains which they gradually overcome as they learn about each other, and as they work together.

If you take a look at your program materials, you’ll notice that Roadmap is a great guide for the path your team travels during the program season. On page 11 you’ll find a brief description of a psychological framework for group development, originally published by psychologist Bruce Tuckman in 1965. According to Tuckman, all small groups or teams go through five stages of development that can overlap. At the beginning of the DI season, your team is in the Forming Stage, when behavior is characterized by reserve and politeness because group members don’t know each other well enough to be completely open with their feelings. Team members might also encounter roadblocks when generating ideas because they may not want to offend each other, and thus don’t share what’s on their minds. A Team Manager’s job, during this stage, is to help team members get to know each other, and to encourage disagreement—strange as that may sound—in order to get ideas flowing. This of course leads to the second stage of team development, Storming.

The Forming Stage conforms, to a great extent, to Stage 1 of the Destination Imagination season timeline, Recognize. Some teams will spend 2 weeks in this stage, while others will spend 4 weeks or more. This is a time for teams to focus on team building, not on choosing a Team Challenge right away. Whether a team is comprised of last year’s members, brand new ones, or a combination of returning and new students, it is critical for them to focus on teamwork at the beginning of the season. Not doing so often leads to conflict down the road, and sometimes to a team failing, or not finishing its Challenge.

Stage 1 in Roadmap is found on pages 19-54, and includes lots of team building activities: By the Numbers, Team Name, Shape Up, Let’s Hear It, and Team Planning—just to name a few. The 4th activity is called Team Choice Element Inventory, and can be used to help a team discover its interests. Please note that a team’s interests do not necessarily reflect its strengths, but instead where a team may be motivated to place its efforts, both learning and otherwise. The very last activity in Stage 1 is Reflection, when teams finally select a Team Challenge.

In truth, team building is an ongoing process that continues during the entire season. Sometimes the best teamwork is facilitated not by what goes on at team meetings, but by what goes on between the meetings. When I used to manage a team, every student had a special role, one of which was the Team Spirit Coordinator. It was this person’s job to communicate with team members about generating ideas for non-DI activities the team could do together. This resulted in a trip to the local Dairy Queen store for ice cream treats, a board game night, a combination birthday/winter holiday party, a movie night, bowling, and many shared pizzas. All of these activities contributed to team members getting to know, trust and respect each other—and in their not being afraid to disagree with each other, ultimately planting a rich soil for creativity to sprout.

Team building activities

You’ll hear experienced Team Managers tell you that Instant Challenges act as team building experiences, and this is really true. As teams practice Instant Challenge, they build a library of experiences that includes not only problem-solving skills, but especially teamwork skills. That is why you are encouraged, at every team meeting, to practice at least one Instant Challenge. This week’s newly-released Instant Challenges, which are found in the cre8iowa Instant Challenge Library, are as follows:

Improvisational and theatre games are an excellent way for team members to get to know each other. Felicia Borges, a long-time Destination Imagination volunteer from California, compiled and modified 21 pages of Kid Friendly Improv Games, based on information found at the Learn Improv site.

Icebreakers or warm-ups provide another great way for your team to develop effective teamwork skills. In 40 Icebreakers for Small Groups, you’ll find 32 pages of activities that are great to use with youths of all ages in a small setting (such as a home or classroom). Thank you to Grahame Knox from the United Kingdom, a youth ministry leader and trainer who has provided this free e-book on his blog, Insight.

Cre8iowa has a limited number of improvisational, drama and  small group activity books that are available to Iowa’s DI participants, as follows. To save costs, all books will be mailed via Media Mail, and shipping will be added to the book prices. Contact cre8iowa@gmail.com if you are interested.

  • Improvisation: Use What You Know—Make Up What You Don’t, 2nd Edition, by Brad Newton, founding member of Kidprov. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • Team Challenges: 170+ Group Activities to Build Cooperation, Communication, and Creativity, by Kris Bordessa, a Destination Imagination Team Manager. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • More Team-Building Activities for Every Group, by Alanna Jones. Includes 107 games and activities. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • On Stage: Theater Games and Activities for Kids, by Lisa Bany-Winters. Learn about improvisational games, make puppets, discover makeup secrets, build a set, and more. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • Theatre Games for Young Performers: Improvisations and Exercises for Developing Acting Skills, by Maria C. Novelly. Provides imagination-expanding exercises in pantomime, voice and improvisational acting. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • The Ultimate Improv Book: A Complete Guide to Comedy Improvisation, by Edward J. Nevraumont and Nicholas P. Hanson. Complete improve curriculum in 24 class-length units. Price: $18 plus shipping

Next week’s post will discuss a number of fun products that are great alternatives to book exercises for team building. Remember: If your team thinks DI is fun, you’re doing something right.

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New Instant Challenges released

 instant challenge, team support  Comments Off
Sep 212012
 

Three new Instant Challenges have been added to our Library. Feel free to download them and add them to your meeting agenda:

In addition, please note that the 2012-13 Instant Challenge Practice Set was just released and may be found in the Resource Area. We were previously informed that this document had been folded into the Roadmap, but that is not the case.

Keep in mind that you can modify any Instant Challenge to suit your needs. If you don’t have the materials listed, substitute others, making sure to adopt the same scale. To make things easier, add time and materials, and eliminate steps. To make things harder, subtract time and materials, and add steps. It’s not that difficult to convert a Rising Stars!® Instant Challenge into a scored practice exercise, or to modify a scored Instant Challenge into a non-scored Rising Stars!® one. Create your own Instant Challenge, and send it to us at cre8iowa@gmail.com. If we use it in our Instant Challenge Library, we’ll give you credit!

  • Click HERE to download an Instant Challenge template that you can use to create your own Instant Challenges.
  • Click HERE to write your own Instant Challenge from a matrix designed by New Hampshire Destination Imagination. Use this matrix as a model for developing your own.
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1-Stop Shop for DI Info

 team support  Comments Off
Sep 212012
 

Ever wish you could find all DI information in one place? Well, now you can. This post will be updated periodically so that it will remain relevant. You will find a link to this post under “Important Links” in the upper left side bar.

Official Program Materials

Free Supplementary Materials

Materials You Can Purchase

Season Information

Iowa Contact Information

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cre8iowa calendar is finalized / Challenge E & Clarification information

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Sep 142012
 

1. The cre8iowa Calendar has been finalized, so any dates marked tentative on our Web site have now been confirmed. The only date that has changed, since we are always subject to the logistics of our host site, is the Sub-state tournament, which will be held on March 9th, 2013, NOT March 2nd. Visit http://www.cre8iowa.org/current-season/calendar/ for the season calendar.

We recognize that no matter what date(s) we set, there will always be students who have a conflict. We encourage you, when you complete your cre8iowa Membership Registration, to let us know at that time about any special scheduling requests. The deadline for making special schedule requests is 3 weeks before any tournament; send an email to cre8iowa@gmail.com.

Often things can be worked out by scheduling your team very early or very late. We do our best to accommodate special scheduling requests. You should also know that not having a full team present at Sub-state has no impact on its advancement to the State tournament. Absentee Sub-state members can still perform at the State tournament. The minimum number of team members required, in order to perform at any tournament, is two. What is more important is that the team have a viable solution that reflects real effort, even if the solution is not complete. All of our teams do advance to the State tournament, since we consider the Sub-state tournament to be a dry run. It is an opportunity to work out kinks and get some scoring feedback. It is also a requirement for a team to perform at the Sub-state tournament in order to advance to the next level. In any event, it is always a good idea for a team to plan its performance with the thought in the back of their minds that some team members may be absent due to a conflict or illness. It’s all part of the creative problem-solving process!

2. Challenge E, Twist-O-Rama: A 58-page booklet about building a “ram” is now available at this link: http://downloads.destinationimagination.org/downloads/2012-13_ChallengeE_How_to_Build_a_Ram.pdf

3. Published Clarifications are rules that supersede all other Challenge instructions. Make sure you are having a team member check the Clarifications page prior to every team meeting: http://www.destinationimagination.org/challenge-program/clarifications

4. You can “follow” Destination Imagination on Facebook or on Twitter. When new Clarifications are released, they will be announced in these locations.

Questions? Contact Judy Nolan, Co-Affiliate Training Director, at judynolan@aol.com.

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